Great Service by a Local Lumberyard

by Sandy L on February 15, 2011

There are far too many stories out there about poor customer service and I thought I’d take a moment to talk about an outstanding experience I had with my local lumberyard this weekend. Our favorite place to buy building supplies is Dettinger Lumber. Since we have remodeled our house from top to bottom and now are doing Babci’s house, we are a frequent shopper of our local home improvement stores.

Dettinger’s offers free delivery if you live in and around town.  It literally can be as little as 1 piece of sheetrock or as much as a whole house full of cabinets. In addition to that, their prices are still very competitive with the big box retailers.   This has been a huge time saver for us.  How many of you have had to rent one of those pickup trucks at home depot, or hit up a friend with a truck…yeah, it’s not fun.  With Dettinger’s  all we have to do is pick up the phone, place our order and the next day, it gets delivered to our doorstep.  Typically I leave the garage door open and they just put everything in the garage for us.

This past Saturday, I had to have 24 pieces of sheetrock delivered, but I had a problem. We currently have a dumpster taking up 1/2 of our driveway and blocking the garage and the other half of it is a big sheet of ice.   I didn’t like the idea of making 1/2 dozen trips to the lumberyard either. I decided to call them up and explain my predicament. I called around 8 am to see if maybe they could deliver the sheetrock onto my porch instead.  Not only did they agree but they also managed to deliver my sheetrock the same day.  I was so thrilled. They literally made my day and I thanked the guys profusely for helping me so much.

The best part about the story is that they then said “no, thank you for your business.”   They were genuinely happy to have the sales as this is a slow time of year (especially with all the snow) and I was happy to be giving them some business.  This is clearly a company that differentiates itself with excellent service.

I have spent tens of thousands of dollars with Dettinger’s and they have never disappointed me yet.   If you live in the Berkshires, these guys are great for general building supplies and kitchen remodels.   If they don’t stock what you’re looking for, they have also directed me to other stores that carried what I was searching for.  The staff is friendly, professional and always willing to help. I really can’t say enough about these guys.

So, if you’ve had an outstanding experience with a local company, be sure to take a few minutes and thank them.

Here are a couple of other bloggers who also have given a shout out to some companies that have gone above and beyond.  Crystal from BFS talks about her success with Weight Watchers Online and  the citi diamond preferred credit card is one of Money Reasons favorites.  Kris from Everyday Tips also swears by TripAdvisor.  I have a mental note to go there before re-booking my missed vacation. Do you have a favorite store, product or service?

Oh, and I wanted to end by saying, that this is not a sponsored post.  I just think ‘ol Dettinger’s deserve an atta boy.

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

Money Beagle February 15, 2011 at 6:53 AM

It’s always good to hear a success story among the failures we often here related to customer service. Good for Dettinger!

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Sandy L February 15, 2011 at 5:20 PM

Money Beagle – yes they were a breath of fresh air just when I needed it most.

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Molly On Money February 15, 2011 at 8:11 AM

I’ll go to a store with great service that costs more than it’s competitors with lousy service any day.

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Sandy L February 15, 2011 at 5:24 PM

Molly – I’m with you, especially in restaurants. It’s hard for me to go to a place that has crabby staff. Interestingly enough, it’s not always the little guy who’s the nicest.

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Deidre February 15, 2011 at 6:27 PM

Nice! I wish they came to TX LOL 🙂
It’s so great when you can get good customer service like that these days. When I lived in LA there was a hardware/lumber yard there that did the same thing; delivered the same day with no minimum purchase. Unfortunately, I was unable to use them before the storm hit in ’08 but I had heard they were fantastic. Kudos to Dettingers!

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Sandy L February 16, 2011 at 3:40 AM

Deidre – yeah, it’s weird how some places just have nicer people…and I live in the North. I know southerners take pride in their niceness, but I do think that smaller towns tend to be more homey and community focused. You’re more likely to run into and know the person in some other place (like you’re kid’s school, or swim lessons, etc), so it just is good sense to be nice. In bigger cities, two people may have an interaction and never meet again, so there’s less incentive to be nice.

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The Biz of Life February 15, 2011 at 9:13 PM

Can’t remember the last time I felt I got good service from a lumberyard or any other raw materials supplier.

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Sandy L February 16, 2011 at 3:41 AM

I’m sorry to hear that. People should not take their customers for granted. You know before Home Depot moved to town there was another outfit that treated their customers absolutely horrible and gouged on prices too. Competition made them a better business and friendlier.

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Lindy Mint February 16, 2011 at 1:50 PM

There is an Ace Hardware by my work that is way more expensive than the Home Depot just down the street, but I choose to go to Ace because the staff there can always help me in an instant, and give me GOOD information.

It seems like these days we are so accustomed to bad service, that when we do receive treatment that is fast and friendly we are taken aback.

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Crystal February 17, 2011 at 11:42 AM

I love happy reviews. They are more fun to write than bad ones too. Hoorah for Dillengers and Weight Watchers Online!

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Barb Friedberg February 17, 2011 at 8:29 PM

This sounds like a “small town” type of store from the good old days. I regret to say I have no stores like that, although I have an “amazing” handy man!!!

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